Working With Tessura

  • Financially complex individuals and business owners who already understand the value of expertise and want a genuine advisor rather than a preparer. Our clients share a circumstance more than an industry: enough moving parts that fragmented advice has begun to cost them something, and a preference for guidance that arrives before a decision rather than an explanation afterward.

  • Yes, though we take on a limited number of engagements at a time. Advisory work depends on familiarity with your situation, and familiarity does not scale indefinitely. The first conversation establishes whether the fit is right, in both directions, before either party commits to anything.

  • A brief introductory call, typically fifteen minutes, in which we ask what prompted you to look and what you would like to be different. If it sounds like a fit, we arrange a discovery meeting to go through your situation properly. A written proposal follows which will include scope and cost, before any commitment.

  • Our work is built around advisory relationships, so tax and accounting are handled within that relationship rather than separately. The reason is practical: a return prepared without knowledge of where you are heading can be entirely accurate and still cost you money. If preparation alone is what you are after, we may not be the right firm. However, it is usually worth a conversation first, since what people describe as a filing need often turns out to be a planning one.

  • Fees depend on the complexity of your situation and the level of involvement it requires. We quote in writing after the discovery meeting, once we understand what the work actually involves, and the figure is agreed before anything begins. What we do not do is send clients invoices they were not expecting.

  • Yes. Our home market is South Florida — Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach — and a good deal of our work is local. But geography matters considerably less than fit, and we currently serve a number of clients outside the region, including those with multi-state considerations.

  • Yes. Tessura is the new name for RVG & Company. The same team, the same standards, the same office and telephone number. The name draws on the tessera, the single mosaic tile that completes a picture. We believe our new name to describe the work we do, much better, the missing piece that completes your financial picture.

  • A few signs recur. You hear from them once a year, and only about filing. You are making significant decisions, such as a purchase, a hire, a structure change but finding out the tax consequences afterward. Your return is accurate, but nothing is ever proposed. Or the business has grown considerably while the relationship has not. None of these mean your current firm is doing poor work; they usually mean you have moved from needing compliance to needing advice.

  • That is how we structure our engagements. The people you meet at the outset are the people who hold your work, and they stay with it, continuity is what allows the advice to be specific rather than general.

  • Most engagements begin within a few weeks of the proposal being signed. The pace depends largely on how quickly we can gather what we need and where you are in your own financial calendar. Starting mid-year is common and rarely a problem.

Advisory

  • It means advisory leads the relationship rather than following it. A tax return records decisions already made; advisory is the part of the work that happens while the outcome is still yours to shape. At Tessura every client is an advisory client, with tax and accounting handled inside that relationship rather than alongside it.

  • Preparation is the reporting of decisions already made. Planning is the shaping of those decisions while there is still room to move, timing income, structuring entities, sequencing transactions, projecting liability before the year closes. Preparation is necessary. Planning is where the money is actually saved.

  • A financial advisor generally manages investments and long-term wealth strategy. A CPA handles tax, accounting and, in an advisory firm, the financial decisions of the business itself. The two roles work best in coordination, which is why we work alongside our clients' wealth advisors wherever the situation allows.

  • Monthly or quarterly, depending on what your situation requires, with contact in between whenever something changes. The regularity is the point: it is what allows advice to be specific rather than general, and early rather than late.

  • It is possible, though we generally engage clients who value the entire relationship. Advisory depends on the numbers moving in line with the plan, and when the tax and accounting work sits elsewhere there is often a gap between what we recommend and what actually gets executed. Where a client has a long-standing preparer we are glad to talk it through, but the advice is sharper when one team holds all of it.

  • Where possible, yes. Fragmented advice is among the more common problems we are asked to solve, and coordinating with your attorney, or wealth advisor is frequently part of that. We also maintain relationships with professionals we trust and will bring them into a conversation where it helps. How much coordination a particular engagement involves depends on the circumstances and the client requirements.

  • It depends less on size than on the decisions in front of you. A business weighing expansion, hiring, property or a change of structure benefits regardless of revenue. A good deal of our advisory work is also with individuals who do not run a business at all, but whose financial lives have enough moving parts to need the same forward planning.

TAX

  • Considerably earlier than most people do. By the time a return is being prepared, the meaningful opportunities have largely passed. Planning works best as a continuous exercise across the year, with projections maintained and decisions timed while timing still matters. If you are asking this in February about the year just ended, the answer is now, for this year.

  • A projection estimates your liability before the year ends, while you can still act on it. It answers the question most people only confront in April: what will this cost, and is there anything to be done about it? We maintain projections across the year so that decisions are made against a number rather than a hope.

  • Yes, for our clients. If you have received a notice and are not currently a client, the first step is a conversation about what it says. Many notices are routine and resolvable, and a surprising number are simply wrong.

  • Continuously, and it is part of what you are paying for. Federal, state and local rules move constantly, and so does your situation. We monitor both and adjust course when either shift. This is a different service from being informed of a change after it has already affected your return.

  • Prior year returns, current financial statements, and any transactions or changes either completed or contemplated. Some examples are, a property purchase, a new entity, a significant hire, an offer for the business. Beyond the documents, the most useful thing you can bring is what you are thinking of doing next. That is the part planning acts on.

Accounting and Fractional CFO

  • A chief financial officer engaged part-time rather than hired full-time. You get senior financial leadership, forecasting, capital strategy, margin and pricing analysis, lender and investor conversations. This is at the level of involvement your business actually requires, and at a fraction of the cost of the equivalent hire.

  • A controller sits close to the operation, owning the monthly close, the controls and the accuracy of the numbers. A CFO works forward from those numbers: forecasting, strategy, capital, and the decisions the figures inform. Some businesses need one, many eventually need both, and they are usually engaged in that order.

  • Usually at the stage where the questions outgrow the bookkeeping. Cash needs forecasting rather than checking. Pricing, hiring and capital decisions need modelling. The monthly close arrives on time but does not tell you anything. It is more than the present setup can carry, and less than a full-time CFO can be justified against.

Succession, Sale, and Exit

  • Earlier than feels necessary, commonly five to ten years before an intended transition. Succession touches ownership structure, tax exposure, management capability and family considerations, and most of the meaningful levers require lead time. Plans made under time pressure tend to cost more and satisfy fewer people.

  • At least two to three years, and ideally longer. Much of what determines a sale price and its after-tax result - clean financials, entity structure, owner compensation, customer concentration — takes years to shape and cannot be repaired in the months before a transaction. Involving us at the letter of intent stage limits what is still possible.

  • The work of preparing a business and its owner for a transition, whether that is a sale, a transfer to family, or a move to passive ownership. It covers valuation drivers, tax consequences, structure, timing, and what the owner intends to do afterward, which is more often the difficult part than the financial modeling.

Individuals and Practical Matters

  • Yes. A significant part of our work is with individuals and families. Executives, entrepreneurs, or investors whose financial lives have outgrown simple answers. In many cases we serve both a business and the people who own it, which is usually where the coordination proves most valuable.

  • Yes, as part of a broader accounting and advisory engagement. We also work alongside in-house bookkeepers, reviewing and strengthening what is already in place rather than replacing it.

  • Complete the form on our Connect page and we will be in touch to arrange a conversation. That first call is brief, and its purpose is simply to establish whether this is the right match.